Origin

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far beyond the one we know, there was a warm planet called Tamaran.

Tamaran had two suns, and everything under those suns glowed. The trees had silver leaves. The rivers sang over white stones. The people who lived there — the Tamaraneans — could soak up sunlight and release it as blazing energy: bright emerald fire called starbolts that bloomed between their fingers. And in the royal palace at the heart of that warm world, a princess was born.

Her name was Koriand'r. She had autumn-colored skin and hair the deep red of a comet's tail, and her eyes were so full of light that people near her felt brighter just for looking. She loved her twin suns. She loved the palace gardens and her mother's stories of Tamaranean warriors who had flown across star systems to bring peace. She loved the way starbolts felt when they gathered in her palms — like holding a tiny piece of the sun, warm and alive and ready. From the time she was very small, she lay in the grass and stared up at the stars and thought: someday, I want to see them all.

But Koriand'r had an older sister. Komand'r — called Blackfire — could not fly and could not summon starbolts. She was older, and she believed that made her the rightful heir to the throne. When the elders of Tamaran declared that Koriand'r would one day be queen, something in Blackfire went cold. She stopped looking at her sister and started looking at her as a problem to solve. She went to the Citadel — a cold, cruel empire that had long threatened Tamaran — and made a terrible deal. She handed her own sister over as a prisoner in exchange for a promise of power that the Citadel had no intention of keeping.

Koriand'r was taken from everything she loved.

For years she lived captive on dark metal starships, patient and quiet, keeping a small warm corner alive inside herself that no one could reach. She thought of the twin suns every single day. She thought of the silver-leafed trees and the singing rivers and the palace gardens. She did not let the coldness of the Citadel's ships touch that place inside her. The Citadel scientists ran experiments meant to remove her powers. They were very, very wrong about what would happen next. The alien energy they used didn't take her gifts away — it multiplied them enormously, like sunlight gathered through a crystal until it blazes. Koriand'r lit up green and brilliant. The cell door blew open. She rose from the floor, blazing. She punched through the ship's hull and flew — really flew, for the first time — free into open space.

She spotted a blue-green planet orbiting a single yellow star. It was smaller than Tamaran, and it had only one sun, but from space it looked gentle and alive. She aimed herself at it.

She came in fast. She landed hard in a city called Jump City in the state of California — KABLAM — scorching a wide circle in a parking lot. She stood up, shook the dust from her hair, and looked around. Humans stared. She did not know their language. But she had a remarkable gift: one honest touch, and any language poured into her mind like warm sunlight.

A young man stepped forward. Dark hair, calm eyes, a red-and-green costume. His name was Dick Grayson — Robin, partner of Batman himself. He held out his hand.

She took it.

English filled her mind all at once. She looked at Robin and said quietly: "My name is Koriand'r. I am free."

He smiled. He told her about Earth, about Jump City, about the group of young heroes he was gathering — Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, and now her. She thought of Tamaran, of the twin suns and silver-leafed trees, of the choice her sister had made. She let the sadness sit quietly in her heart without letting it turn cold.

Then she looked up at the Earth sky — one sun, bright blue, and the distant glimmer of stars just beginning to appear — and she chose.

She would stay. She would protect this world. She would take a name her new friends could say easily: Starfire.

And from that day forward, Earth had a guardian who fought not from anger alone but from pure, blazing love for everything worth protecting.

Close your eyes. Somewhere above the city, a trail of soft green light moves through the dark sky, warm as a summer evening and bright as a wish.

Starfire is keeping watch.

Sleep well.